The gazette-times., March 05, 1915, HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 13, Image 13

HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
13
The Evolution of Agriculture
The rrowth at atrrtriiltnral i-l-
enre from huiuble beginalDg on
Individual farms to the moHt an
proved modern methods that combine
happily both acirnre and pritrtire
In a harmonious whole, la treated In
the followlni article by t. L. rJinltli,
of tbo O.-W. K. N.. one of I be
foremost af licutturlati la the Nortli-
weM,
BY C. L. BMITH.
THE farmers of J 813 were first
of all home builders. They se
cured land, not ao much with
the Idea of making money, as of mak.
lng a home. Producing on the farm
bo far as practicable, all the things
necessary for the comfort of the
family. All of the food and most of
the clothing was home grown and
borne made. Flax and wool were
carded, spun, dyed and woven by the
thrifty housewife The hide of the
young bullock that furnished the sea
son's supply of beef was tanued,
dressed and made into boots and
shoes by the farmer and his sons.
The virgin soil was fertile and
easily tilled. The uncultivated lands
furnished free Summer pasturage for
small herds of cattle. Hogs thrived
nd multiplied, and lived on roots
nd nuts In the primeval forest. The
hoe, mattock, gcythe, sickle, rake and
fork were about all the farm Imple
ments, The small farmer or new
Bottler threshed bis grain with flail.
The more well-to-do had a large barn
nd threshing floor where the oxen
tramped the grain until It was shelled
from the straw. The straw was raked
nd forked off, and then on a windy
day the grain could be cleaned by
tossing it in the air until the chaff
was blown away.
Produce Exchange.
The traveling tailor, shoemaker or
seamstress was usually paid In meat,
meal or wool. Surplus farm products
-would be exchanged for extras of
some Bort; but very rarely for money.
In the South under the slave sys
tem, the large plantations produced
cotton, sugar and tobacco for export.
In the Norih, wheat and meat began
to be produced in excess of local de
mands and gradually built up an ex
port trade. With the crude Imple
ments In use, it required about-10
hours of manual labor to produce one
bushel of wheat,
s With the growth of cities along the
seaboard, the navigable streams nnd
Inland lakes, trade and commerce
grew. Grain, meat, fruit and vege
tables began to be produced for mar
ket. The steamboat and the railroad fa
cilitated the marketing and greatly
stimulated the production of market
able produce. The Invention of grain
harvesting machinery, threshing ma
chines, steel plow, steel drills and
nther labor saving devices, lessened
the labor cost of production and vast
ly Increased the amount produced.
Then came the Civil War, the
homestead bill, the settlement of the
ast prairies of the Middle West,
railroad building on a stupendous
scale. Wheat and corn were the pio
neer crops. They could be exchanged
for cash at the nearest railroad sta
tion or steamboat landing.
Mania for Money.
These cash crops could be produced
In a single season. The farmer
needed money, and he concentrated
bis energy on the production of the
one crop until It became a sort of
mania with him. He lost interest in
home making, in live stock, In soil
fertility, in fact everything except the
production of a crop that be could
exchange for cash.
Just at this period began the first
general movement that could he
called "agricultural education." The
farma along the Atlantic seaboard
had gradually decreased In produc
tive capacity until in many places
they failed to produce enough to pay
for the labor involved In planting
and harvesting the crop.
A like condition existed in the
valleys and on the table lands of the
Middle Btates. In many of the older
settled portions the farms had been
abandoned; their owners moving west
to the fertile prairies of the Missis
sippi Valley, where with Improved
machinery they were extracting the
Boil fertility much more rapidly than
their fathers had been able to do
with their cruder Instruments and
more diversified methods.
Morrill Hill.
The Morrill bill provided for a
large grant of lands to the various
states for the establishment of col
leges where students were to be
taught the "science of agriculture
and mechanic arts." It was unfor
tunate that the popular Ideas regard
ing education had not progressed
as rapidly as industrial development:
and logically the first attempts at
agricultural education were as crude
as the Implements of our grand
fathers. Students of economic conditions
realized the folly and danger of
system of farming that made no pro
vision for maintaining the fertility
of the soli. Any of their suggestions
were scoffed at as "theories." "Boo
farmiug" became a byword.. The
whole country was "money mad."
Our forests, mines and the- fertil
ity of the fields were coined Into dol
lars and found their way rapidly to
the cities. The men on the land
would heed a warning only when they
were In trouble. The beef to feed
the steadily Increasing population
was being grown on the Western
ranges sometimes going direct from
the range to the slaughter house,
sometimes being distributed through
the corn states and finished for mar
ket on cheap corn. Cold storage and
refrigerator cars enabled the large
packing houses to place this meat on
the markets of the country at a
price that put the small grower and
butcher out pf business.
Intensive Cultivation Needed.
The range stock business has come
and gone. The future beef supply of
the country must come from fenced
in fields and cultivated crops. This
means a radical readjustment of the
business. Increasing land values nec
essitated more intensive methods and
larger returns per acre. The main
tenance or increasing of the produc
tive capacity is recognized today as
one of the most Important factors in
successful farming.
This evolution of agriculture has
Influenced the moral, social and re
ligious as well as the material con
dition of the people. The commer
cialization of the business of farm
ing has largely obliterated Its benefi
cent Influence on the home life of
the people. The concentration of the
effort and ambition to mere money
getting has left an evil Impress on
the social, moral and religious life
of the people. It has been truly said
that:
The fault of (he age l a mad endeavor
To leap to heights that were made to
climb;
By a burst of, strength, by a thought
most clever,
We plan to forestall and outwit time.
Dairying Changes.
To summarize some of the Import
ant changes both in methods and
practice, dairying illustrates how rad
ical those changes have been. Old
Brindle dropped a calf at about the
time the grass began to grow on the
hillsides.
She gave milk to feed the calf and
a slight surplus for domestic use. It
was not uncommon when the calf had
reached the age of three or four
weeks to put It on a separate pasture
and a diet of skimmed milk. While,
the grass continued rich and green,
Old Brindle. gave a varying flow of
milk carrying a normal percentage
of butter fat. The housewife, with
out theorizing or reasoning why,
learned at an early date that the
heifer calf that was made a family
pet, receiving numerous extras in
the way of vegetables, green coi n and
later on, the nubbins at husking time,
developed a greater capacity for
turning food into milk, than either
her mother or grandmother, frequent
ly making twice as much milk as was
necessary to feed her calf. Such an
exceptional milker became the family
cow and lived to a good old age and
all of her female offspring were made
family pets. Butter and cheese were
manufactured by the housewife to
supply the family table, and If there
was any surplus during the days of
rich pasture in midsummer, it was
packed in Jars or tubs for Winter
use.
The next step in the evolution of
dairying came when the herd had in
creased in numbers so that this sur
plus became an important factor in
the farm products, which found Us
way to market as cured cheese and
packed butter.
Co-operative Dairying.
The labor of the dairy fell largely
to the women folks, who did the
milking, skimmed the milk and
churned the butler or made the
cheese.
Some 60 or 70 years ago came the
first movement looking toward co-operation
In dairying, when the farmers
in a given district would employ a
special cheesemaker, and would pool
their milk. Butter, however, for an
other half century retained its in
dividual character and Us quality was
as variable as the character and con
dition of Its makers, the country
store being the assembling point
where the butter was gathered for
shipment to some central market.
Then came the co-operative creamery,
where 100 or more farmers pooled
their milk to be manufactured Into
one kind of butter. The skimming
was done by large centrifugal ma
chines and the farmer carried home
the skimmed milk to feed the calves
and pigs. This method quickly
standardized tho creamery product
and proved satisfactory to the pro
ducer and the consumer. It also
stimulated Interest In the improve
ment of dairy stock, to the Introduc
tion of purebred animals that for
many generations had been selected,
bred and fed for dairy purposes. But
even 30 years ago the cow that pro
duced 600 or 600 pounds of butter
fat per year was considered phenom
enal. Today we have many cows
that are capable of producing twice
that amount. Farmers have learned
the lesson that the cow that drops
her calf In Fall or early Winter, will,
other things being equal, give 25 to
35 per cent more milk during tbe
milking period than when the
calf Is dropped In tbe Spring. This
has necessitated the growing of a
greater variety of feed, more Intelli
gent feeding, better care, more con
tinuous income and a better under
standing of the value of Individual
selection, testing and sorting of dairy
herds.
One single illustration, and we
have hundreds of a similar charac
ter, in a herd of 72 cows, by the use
of a Babcock test, scales and a milk
record, by intelligent selection, sort
ing and breeding, improved his herd
In 10 years so as to double the an
nual production and reduce the cost
of producing one pound of butterfat
60 per cent.
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hop growers-
ATTENTION
Vou know that the time Is not far
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